A man whose badly decomposed body was found inside a pickup truck in Hawthorne was a former Torrance resident reported missing when he failed to arrive at a Northern California destination, authorities said.

Robert James Benwell, 42, of Santa Ana was a commercial construction inspector who was good at his work but had a dark side, a former co-worker said.

He was last seen alive on Aug. 22, police said. His body was found Aug. 27 in the back seat of another man’s Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck, parked outside a church on a Hawthorne street.

He died from a bullet fired into his back.

So far, no suspects have been arrested.

“We are still trying to sort out who the players are,” sheriff’s Lt. David Coleman said. “He had borrowed the vehicle.”

Coroner’s officials have not been able to locate Benwell’s family members. Investigators have not said much about the direction of their case.

Records showed Benwell lived in Torrance for several years. He worked as a special deputy inspector for commercial construction for Koury Engineering and Testing, a Chino-based company with a branch office in Gardena.

He is listed on a Long Beach Public Works Department Web site as a certified structural steel or welding inspector.

Benwell held certificates to inspect structural steel, fireproofing and drilled-in anchors, a co-worker said. As a subcontractor, he worked with more than one laboratory.

“My understanding is that he was a good inspector, always on time and dependable,” the worker said. “However, he did have a dark side. It was believed that he would sell drugs – but it was never confirmed.”

Records showed Benwell had run-ins with the law, including arrests for burglary in 1985 and assault with a firearm in 2006. That case was dismissed.

He was sentenced in 1999 to spend three months in federal prison for violating parole in a 1989 federal case. The nature of the charges, however, could not be determined.

Benwell lived at a number of addresses since the 1980 s, including in Redondo Beach, Torrance, Harbor City and Lomita. He also showed an Escondido address.

On Oct. 20, 2006, he signed an agreement to lease a house in the 3400 block of 224 th Street in Torrance for $1,995. He wrote the landlord a check and moved in Nov. 1.

The landlord, who did not want to be identified, said he did not check much into Benwell’s background when he rented him the home because Benwell told him he was an inspector and he trusted the tenant had a good job.

Shortly after Benwell moved in, neighbors told the landlord that a couple more people had moved in.

“They said it’s kind of a strange residence – quite a few people in and out and in and out,” the landlord said. “Quite a few weird people.”

Four months into the lease, the landlord received a note and a key from Benwell.

“He left the house and sent the key to me and attached a note saying that because of personal reasons he has to leave right away,” the landlord said. “That’s all I got from him.”

Benwell never sought to obtain his $2,460 security deposit and left behind a table, a cabinet, a dishwasher and a washing machine.

The current tenant in the house said she sometimes receives telephone calls from collections agents looking for Benwell. She said she also has received letters addressed to him from prison inmates. She writes “not at this address” and sends them back to the post office.

“That friend told officers that Mr. Benwell had left his home on the 23 rd to go up north to Arcata,” Gonzalez said. “He was supposed to go up there and he was scheduled to return a couple days later. She said she tried to call him and reported him missing.”

Police did not release the woman’s name or relationship.

Benwell was found dead the next day, sitting in the rear seat of a Chevrolet Silverado at 118 th Place and Felton Avenue. Residents said it had been there about a day, but the body, according to authorities, was in an advanced state of decomposition, indicating he might have been dead longer.

Department of Motor Vehicles records showed the license plate number of the truck was registered to Mark Lawton Wanamaker. Attempts to locate Wanamaker were unsuccessful.

Larry Altman has covered crime and court proceedings in Southern California since 1987. A graduate of Cal State Northridge, where he served as editor of the college newspaper, Altman has worked for the Daily Breeze since 1990. The Society of Professional Journalists named him a "Distinguished Journalist" in Los Angeles in 2006. Altman's work was featured twice on CBS' “48 Hours” and he appeared eight times with “Nancy Grace," who called him "dear." He has covered hundreds of homicides and many trials. Altman has crawled through a mausoleum to open a coffin, confronted husbands who killed their wives, wives who killed their husbands, and his coverage helped put a child molester and a murderer in prison. In his spare time, Altman is an avid Los Angeles Lakers and Dodgers fan, is the commissioner of a Fantasy Baseball league with several other current and former newspapermen, runs a real estate empire and likes to watch old movies on TCM.

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